dBpoweramp vs EAC

My specific criticism of that guide had nothing to do with the write option or gap feature.

Legitimate concerns about the guide began at post #16 by twostar in the discussion I linked. It seems you've responded without reading them.

Now that we've ruled out updating our guide on CUE Sheets, gap feature and write option in order to provide you with better support, what information do you need that you cannot find in our wiki? I'm hoping you'll answer so that we can help you and others who may have the same concerns in the future.

Last Edit: 2010-05-15 02:18:47 by greynol

Is 24-bit/192kHz good enough for your lo-fi vinyl, or do you need 32/384?

dBpoweramp vs EAC

When I sent my message I had not finished reading your entire link. But now that I read, I say:

It's not because there is an error in a screenshot (post#16) that all the guide is not good.

We know that configure EAC depends on several factors :

- What format (MP3, FLAC, etc) will I use ?- Do I want use CUESheet ?- If i take FLAC I don't need for id3 tags.- etc...

For EAC Options, it's enough complete and can be use as standard configuration for any format. Of course, some options are to our choice (ex: Use alternate CD play routines = not very important for ripping).

In EAC Compression, the id3 tag part is useless for flac. But in the FLAC guide, there no warning that said of not checked id3 tag.

Probably because the information was never there and then the guide was restructured to show that it isn't. Thankfully the information there regarding the secure mode options is correct unlike what is in the external guide you linked.

Drive tab: Press the "Autodetect read command now" button for the initial setup. The other three options are self-explanatory.

Gap Detection tab: choose the method that works the fastest with the accuracy set to secure and gives results that make sense (doesn't give an error when the cue sheet is used for writing). With some drives you may have to reduce the accuracy because EAC can hang with any of the three methods selected. Based on what was said earlier, a lack of information here shouldn't matter to you (not to say it should be left as TBD).

dBpoweramp vs EAC

When we configure EAC, we can use external encoder (libFLAC, Lame, neroAAC, etc) and we can also choice the # version of encoder.

DMC 13.4 comes with libFLAC 1.2.1, LAME 3.98.3 & WAV, others codecs come separate. But if I want use Lame 3.98.4 with DMC, how I do ?

Only replace the newest lame.exe file with the old file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Illustrate\dBpoweramp\encoder\mp3 (Lame) ? I tried but seems that DMC don't recognize the new version 3.98.4. Always written Lame 3.98.3 in DMC configuration windows.

With EAC or foobar2K, the external encoder are .exe files, but with DMC is it .dll files ?

dBpoweramp vs EAC

@ DP3_001 : True, paid for DMC that do almost the same thing that EAC is useless. But I feel that the development of EAC is left behind and/or that his development is hard to follow. Where is his developer ? What are his intention about EAC in the future ? What if his developer don't want continue support EAC ? Maybe release the code of EAC open source for that our community can continue the development ? Many question without response.

It's been a while since I've communicated with Andre but I know that he's been very busy with other aspects of his life (EAC is not his life). Since I will probably never have a need for the upgrades that are to take place with the new version and because I am still hanging on to Windows XP until it will no longer serve my purposes, I don't believe I can help him out with his development, perhaps you can. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Is 24-bit/192kHz good enough for your lo-fi vinyl, or do you need 32/384?

It's been a while since I've communicated with Andre but I know that he's been very busy with other aspects of his life (EAC is not his life). Since I will probably never have a need for the upgrades that are to take place with the new version and because I am still hanging on to Windows XP until it will no longer serve my purposes, I don't believe I can help him out with his development, perhaps you can. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Forgive me for posting so late. I just came across this thread.

I'm not "hating" on Andre nor am I a dBpoweramp fanboy of sorts, but it seems he IS getting "paid" for his software by way of EBay icons/advertisements and whatnot. If he omitted such things from the typical installation, then I'd agree that he's walking some "higher path" of doing it for fun. He collects his money regardless of whether the user chooses to install the adware or not. We all have lives. I'm certain Spoon has a life outside of dBpoweramp development as well. While I am currently mostly using EAC, I far prefer Spoon's approach to this matter than that of someone who rarely (if ever) shows up to participate in the audio community here. I see Spoon constantly involved in this forum in a neutral manner. I don't see him just shamelessly plugging his own apps (not that Andre Wiethoff does either for any reason.)

In Spoon's defense, I guess it's easier to be a bit anonymous (ie; Spoon) then it is to be Andre Wiethoff. We can't and shouldn't really know what sort of "life" he has. On the other hand, I've noticed more than a few of Herr Wiethoff's comments (in other forums) and apologetics for how "busy a life he has." They are both getting paid, one way or another. I personally would rather pay Spoon's way and receive an ounce of courtesy than get "freeware" where the author games the system for profit and lends little to know support even in his off-time.

Just my personal opinion. I just wish dBpoweramp caught up with the cue sheets and stuff. It looks like it's in progress...

dBpoweramp vs EAC

I find your idea that Andre games the system somewhat awkward for someone who isn't "hating on him."

Do you think Andre is getting anywhere near the amount of money for bundling his software with ads that Illustrate charges for even their less expensive tier of dBpoweramp? I really don't know, but I highly doubt it.

Regarding the agreeing with the idea that he's walking a "higher path," I don't quite know who you're quoting. It certainly wasn't me.

Last Edit: 2010-07-24 04:20:34 by greynol

Is 24-bit/192kHz good enough for your lo-fi vinyl, or do you need 32/384?

dBpoweramp vs EAC

I find your idea that Andre games the system somewhat awkward for someone who isn't "hating on him."

Do you think Andre is getting anywhere near the amount of money for bundling his software with ads that Illustrate charges for even their less expensive tier of dBpoweramp? I really don't know, but I highly doubt it.

Regarding the agreeing with the idea that he's walking a "higher path," I don't quite know who you're quoting. It certainly wasn't me.

I don't know Andre personally. I've tried to communicate with him in German and English. Nothing. OK. I understand he probably gets quite a bit of email at his address that HE posts for contact. That's fine. He very rarely shows up in this or any other forum I'm aware of to support his product in any way. When he does we're all made to feel sorry for him as though we don't all have lives. Mine is the full-time care of an autistic child just to start. I'm not crying; it's life. If I wrote a software program (and no I can not) as popular in these circles as dBpoweramp or EAC, and it wasn't just for fun, I'd make some effort to be supportive of it. If I'm getting paid for the product one way or another I would personally want to safeguard my reputation.

Speculation about how much (a giant) corporation like eBay is paying him is just that; only he knows. I would like to speculate about how many people actually pay Spoon for dBpoweramp and don't just rip it off like nearly everyone else that posts and perpetuates threads about "How To Detect the Authenticity of FLAC Files?" (Answer: "Ummm...if you ripped those CDs, yours or borrowed, then why would you need to prove they are not transcodes???) ...but that's life in the internet-world too. EAC is extremely popular in these and other circles. I won't say which circles. It also seems to be "it" in this community as well.

Walking the higher path: "There's a big difference between doing something for profit and doing something for fun." ...maybe I assumed that's what the "higher path," in my words, supposedly was. Again: if he wasn't doing it for profit.

This isn't anything personal towards Andre. I'm just calling it the way I see it. I doubt he would feel I hate him personally even if he did get around to reading anything I or anyone else is writing. Remember how long it took him to respond to the issue of virus-positives to his software? He got there eventually. I would have been furiously refuting that ASAP, if I were a dev and my rep was at stake. He's IMO a guy who created a great program, but can't even be bothered to put a few people like you and I (who apparently aren't as important and busy?) in his place to provide a drop of web-support.

I don't know him personally to hate him. I am just criticizing his "methods" or whatever. CUETools is being run by different devs now. That app is truly free and for fun. I'll bet you get more questions answered from them.

I suppose it's really about choices. I am (obviously) frustrated user of EAC. I paid for dBpoweramp because I thought the dev deserved the money and it was worth it...even though I was only using the music converter.

I paid for dBpoweramp because I thought the dev deserved the money and it was worth it...even though I was only using the music converter.

You will find no disagreement from me on this. Hopefully you've gotten around to using it as a ripper as well.

Yeah, I've been working with it for the past few days, doing some tests, etc. I'm actually really liking it. I had to recently start re-ripping/archiving my CD collection due to my stupidly losing an encryption key for the drive in which it was stored. Happily for me my issues are being resolved early in that process (I've only ripped about 25 of them with EAC. I don't see the need to re-rip those again as I know EAC is/was more than capable of making as-perfect-as-possible files/cues that can be re-written to a disc if necessary. Now that it has the CUE/image option, I'm just going to do it that way.)

I guess I am a bit harsh on Andre (and possibly you) recently due to my own frustrations. I do appreciate Andre's contributions to secure-ripping. I suppose I should take this opportunity to acknowledge that in spite of everything I've already said. If it wasn't for people like him, most of us would probably all be ripping our CDs with iTunes, Zune, or WMP. (Somewhat OK, a bit worse, and horrible respectively IMO and experience.)

I just hope that people like you and I and others here don't escalate this into a Windows vs. Mac-type war! They both have their advantages and disadvantages. All we can (and hopefully will) do is talk of our own personal experiences. Those are, of course, unique and subjective.

It's been an uphill battle for me to convince ppl I really know and care about to stop ripping their stuff as MP3s. I can't imagine they'd want to hear a word about EAC vs. dBpoweramp. I try to pick my battles and not press my luck. I think If I had to evangelize people like that, I'd have to sell them on dBpoweramp though. If I turned them on to EAC I'd be constantly having to visit them to set it up every time they had a problem or reformatted ...something I obviously hardly look forward to doing on my own computers!